When UN Secretary-General António Guterres took part in the International Day of Peace ceremony at the New York headquarters, symbolically ringing the Peace Bell, conflicts continued to occur. Currently, there are 56 in the world, according to the Global Peace Index 2024: in Gaza and Ukraine, but also the civil war in Sudan and — earlier this year — in Haiti; clear evidence of the weakness of civilization.
In this regard, in 1945, the year that marked the end of the Second World War, the writer Albert Camus stated: “We will have to choose […] between hell and reason”, a clear call to the community so that the deadliest conflict in history can never be repeated.
But fighting the winds of war means giving peace a chance through mediation and diplomacy. Ending a conflict cannot be done under any conditions: if we consider the conflict in Ukraine — still ongoing — we see how it was decided, at the very first stage, to proceed with economic sanctions to discourage Russia’s actions.
On the other hand, intervening to stop the conflict, without any established preconditions, would have meant immediately granting victory or impunity to the aggressor. A quick way to end the issue, but which, at the same time, lays the foundations for future disagreements.
Last June, Switzerland organised the high-level conference on peace in Ukraine, unfortunately without any real diplomatic success. Historically neutral ground and a model of geopolitical stability in the international arena, the Confederation should have done more.
But if relying solely on international justice proves complex, what then is the way to train future mediators and peacebuilders?
Considering the ongoing war in Gaza – yet another proof of a conflict that, for several decades, has continued to be based on a mutual hatred rooted in Israel and Palestine – can we therefore think that the simplest way to combat this hatred is through culture and education?
A challenge also mentioned by the UNESCO charter – “since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed” – and taken up several times by Kofi Annan, according to whom “tolerance is a virtue that makes peace possible” […].